The Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub has helped Tonga secure a grant to put the country on the path towards low carbon emissions and climate-resilient development. The Green Climate Fund grant will pay for a two-year ‘readiness programme’ preparing Tonga’s National Designated Authority to better engage with the Green Climate Fund and manage activities sponsored by the fund in the country.
Read news -
Tonga receives $500,000 climate readiness grant from Green Climate Fund with Commonwealth support
Main page for this area of work
An increasingly important aspect of Commonwealth cooperation to fulfil our collective commitment to sustainable development is our work on halting - and wherever possible - reversing the very severe desertification and degradation which occurs when land is used carelessly or too intensively.
Read news -
Blog: Commonwealth nations are cooperating to reverse land degradation and desertification
“We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change. Climate change is running faster than we are and we must catch up sooner rather than later, before it is too late”. United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres at UNFCCC, COP 24
Read news -
Blog: Leading the fight from above: Space technologies for enhanced climate action
The Secretary-General has expressed solidarity with the people of The Bahamas in a visit to the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama which were hit by Hurricane Dorian last month.
Read news -
Secretary-General vows to help The Bahamas on climate crisis during visit to hurricane hit islands
The Commonwealth has helped Jamaica secure a grant to assist it towards establishing the first ever Caribbean green bond. The grant, valued at over $500,000, will pay for a ‘readiness initiative’ involving an analysis of the development and operation of a green bond market and the creation of regional green bond guidelines in accordance with international standards.
Read news -
Commonwealth helps Jamaica secure $500,000 climate grant
The Commonwealth has launched a regenerative climate change model that marries the ancient wisdom of indigenous groups with emerging innovations, technologies and scientific approaches. Common Earth, is the programme that will create a network of projects that could be replicated and adapted to any community, country or region.
Read news -
Game on! Commonwealth steps up battle on climate change with regenerative solutions model
Event
The all day event will be held at Marlborough House, London on Thursday 3 October. Convened by the Commonwealth and its implementation partner on regenerative development, the Cloudburst Foundation, it will be the official launch of Common Earth - an international consortium aimed at collectively creating and harnessing strategies to restore the damage caused by climate change and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
World-renowned environmentalists, scientists, climate change experts and indigenous groups will meet on October 3 in London to create a roadmap for pioneering, country-led solutions to climate change. The event, convened by the Commonwealth and its implementation partner on regenerative development, the Cloudburst Foundation, will officially launch Common Earth.
Read news -
Global experts to create regenerative climate action roadmap
A 14-strong international panel working to accelerate action for ocean protection features seven Commonwealth member countries.
Read news -
Commonwealth countries taking lead on ocean-based climate action
Environment ministers from across the Commonwealth have jointly committed to work together to tackle the devastating impacts of climate change, build resilience and collaborate on ocean action.
Read news -
Ministers commit to join forces in climate change fight
A Commonwealth facility designed to assist smaller and more vulnerable countries tackle the damaging effects of climate change has helped them access USD 27 million of funding.
Read news -
Commonwealth helps developing countries bank millions for climate action
In the lead up to next week’s global climate summit in New York and barely two weeks after Hurricane Dorian battered The Bahamas, the Commonwealth’s top official is calling for urgent action to tackle climate change and its disastrous impacts.
Read news -
Leaders demand urgent climate action in Dorian’s wake
Personally, as a Bahamian, I thought I knew hurricanes. We all thought we did. Having lived through seven of them since 2000, we had a knowledge that came from hard-learned lessons. We thought we knew how to prepare, how to respond, and how to rebuild. Professionally, I know about the development challenges of small states. At the Commonwealth, we have researched, studied, and calculated their vulnerability.
Read news -
Blog: Vulnerability and resilience after Dorian
The Secretary-General was granted the honour of naming a baby gorilla during a Rwandan ceremony attended by tens of thousands of people. Kwita Izina is an annual event which this year was held in Kinigi, near Rwanda’s borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Read news -
Rwanda visit highlights Gorilla climate change fight
With Hurricane Dorian having swept through The Bahamas with unprecedented intensity and force, causing extensive damage to infrastructure, and having reportedly claimed at least one life to date, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has on behalf of the wider Commonwealth family expressed deep concern to the government and people of The Bahamas.
Read news -
Secretary-General expresses concern for The Bahamas in the wake of “catastrophic” Hurricane Dorian
Blog by Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth: The frightening reality of Pacific island nations disappearing into the ocean could also become a real worry for western metropolises. Only with a truly inclusive and worldwide effort, with every nation, government and community on board can we win the battle.
Read news -
Blog: We need to challenge climate change doubters before it’s too late
Since around 2010, the Commonwealth had been calling on the international community to look towards innovation. It was a period in which most of the memberships’ small and middle-income countries had become incapacitated with debt, whilst also facing the dire risk of more frequent and severe natural disasters.
Read news -
Blog: Innovation: a light at the end of the tunnel for disaster hit nations
The Pacific is the Commonwealth region most vulnerable to climate change. It faces intense variations in temperatures, extreme storms, rising sea levels, and is also highly vulnerable to earthquakes, floods, tidal surges, landslides, droughts, forest fires, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
Read news -
Commonwealth Secretary-General: Urgent multilateral climate action needed for security and wellbeing of Pacific islanders
Five months ago, Cyclone Idai ripped through the Southern African region, causing a massive humanitarian disaster that affected three million people. More than a thousand perished, while 200,000 lost their homes, many of whom are still to this day living in refugee camps.
Read news -
Blog: Why disaster readiness is critical for Africa – and what the Commonwealth is doing about it
By taking coordinated collective action, the nations of the Commonwealth can accelerate the mobilisation of international efforts that are the only hope if we are to prevent further detrimental human impact on the delicate natural balance of our planet.
Read news -
Blog: We are supporting Governments in tackling the devastating impacts of climate change
Five months ago, Cyclone Idai ripped through the Southern African region, causing a massive humanitarian disaster that affected three million people. More than a thousand perished, while 200,000 lost their homes, many of whom are still to this day living in refugee camps.
Read news -
Opinion: Why disaster readiness is critical for Africa – and what the Commonwealth is doing about it
International organisations must partner-up to avoid duplication and integrate efforts that assist member countries, says the Commonwealth’s head of economic policy and small states.
Read news -
Commonwealth urges international organisations to integrate efforts at UN forum
Commonwealth countries have been encouraged to ratify and implement the 1954 Hague Convention, which protects cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict. Of 53 Commonwealth member countries, 20 have ratified the Convention, which commits countries to take measures to safeguard immovable and movable cultural property - such as buildings, monuments, artefacts and artwork - when conflict strikes.
Read news -
Commonwealth countries urged to lead on the protection of cultural heritage
The ‘Ask The Expert’ series features some of the leading specialists who work at the Commonwealth Secretariat. In this edition, Alache Fisho, Legal Adviser at the Trade, Oceans and Natural Resources Directorate, looks at how Commonwealth countries are making the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Read news -
Ask the Expert: The road to clean energy - a look at how Commonwealth countries are making the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy
A blog on climate change by Katie Blackman, a National Climate Finance Adviser deployed in Jamaica with the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub.
Read news -
Blog: Four ways Jamaica is boosting private sector engagement in climate action